1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to associating consumers with their purchases so that consumer transactions can be tied back to a particular consumer. More particularly, the invention relates to the aggregation, management and data mining of consumer purchasing information for the purpose of routing electronic purchase history to consumers and allowing merchant analysis of consumer behavior in order to create consumer profiles to better service consumers and provide more personalized offers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current receipt management systems do not use aggregated receipt data to facilitate a broad range of post-purchase activities. While certain corporate purchasing cards access Level III purchase data (described further below) for the purposes of automated employee expense control and reimbursement, this purchase data is not utilized to benefit merchants and consumers in the facilitation of a broad range of post-purchase activities. Further, while some merchants offer detailed purchase histories to consumers, these detailed histories are limited to purchases at that particular merchant in order to facilitate merchandise returns.
Currently, consumers' wallets are filled with loyalty and membership club cards, shopper's club cards, frequent shoppers cards, and the like. Consumers must carry and utilize separate merchant membership cards for use with individual merchants. Merchants administer these programs to associate consumers with their respective purchases for the purposes of analysis and relationship management.